Ear muff



Aug. 18, 1964 W. S. M KINSTRY EAR MUFF Filed Nov.

INVENTOR. WiLLinM S. McKinsTRY Teen/ United States Patent 3,144,663 EARMUFF William S. McKinstry, 1520 Waterbury Road, Lakewood 7, Ohio FiledNov. 16, 1961, Ser. No. 152,795 4 Claims. (Cl. 2-209) This inventionrelates in general to ear muffs or car guards, and more particularly toan ear guard which may be effectively used without association with ahead covering, such as for instance a hat or cap.

Various types of ear muffs are known in the art for use in conjunctionwith a head covering, or for use without association with a headcovering. However, these prior art arrangements have generally beenawkward to handle, and have been unduly bulky in nature, and have notbeen entirely satisfactory. Moreover in the prior art arrangements ofthe ear muffs, the total exterior ear is generally covered with a pad ormuff abutting against the car, which arrangement definitely impairs thehearing of the person wearing the same, and yet still does not alwayspositively protect the pinna portion of the external ear from theelements.

The present invention provides a compact ear muff or ear guard which isself-retaining on the human ear, and which will not impair the hearingability of the ear.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide an improved earguard or ear muff.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved ear guardwhich will only cover the pinna portion of the ear, leaving the earcanal completely open, and thereby not impairing the hearing ability ofthe ear.

A further object of the invention is to provide an ear guard of theabove type which is extremely compact in nature, and is self-retainingon the car.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an ear guard ofthe above type which is uncomplicated in construction, convenient tohandle and carry, and which may be economically produced.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein;

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the ear guard of the invention asmounted on the human ear;

FIG. 2 is a generally perspective, enlarged view of the ear guard of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a generally end elevational view of the ear guard taken fromthe right of FIG. 2.

Referring now again to the drawings, the ear guard of the inventionprovides a generally crescent-shaped body formed preferably of soft,molded rubber, or the like, defining a cavity 12 therein for receivingprimarily the pinna portion of the ear. Preferably embedded in the body10 adjacent the external periphery thereof is a C-shaped, resilient wireor strip spring member 14, for causing clasping of the pinna portion ofthe ear by the ear guard. The free ends 15 of the spring 14 may beblunted or rounded to prevent such ends from cutting or working theirway through the material of the body 10. Referring to FIG. 1, it will beseen that the ear guard encompasses primarily the helix and lobe of thepinna portion of the human ear, with the spring member positivelymaintaining the guard in place, but that the ear opening or canal 16 isleft completely open. Therefore, the hearing of the wearer is notimpaired.

The internal surfaces of the cavity 12 in the guard are preferablycovered with a soft fabric 18 which will give added comfort to the eararound which the guard extends, and will add to the warmth of the earguard. Such a fabric layer may be conveniently attached to the innersurfaces of cavity 12 by any suitable adhesive, many of which are knownin the adhesive art.

3,144,663 Patented Aug. 18, 1964 The ear guard by being highly compactin nature may be conveniently carried by an individual in his pocket,and may be readily applied to the car by grasping the end portions 20 ofthe body and moving them outwardly with respect to one another andagainst the resistance to distortion of the spring 14. The pinna of thecar may then be readily received in the cavity 12 of the guard, afterwhich end portions 20 of the guard upon release thereof, move inwardlytoward one another due to the resiliency of the spring 14, and the earis grasped by the guard to retain the latter on the ear.

The guard may be readily made in any desired color or color combination,to thus increase the attractiveness thereof, and for matching purposeswith other articles of the wearers clothes.

While the ear guard has been disclosed as being made from a softmoldable rubber, and while this is the preferable material and providesan arrangement conducive to economical mass production procedures, theguard could be made from other materials, such as for instance a softpoly-blend of plastic, or of rubber or plastic coated fabric, suitablyformed or manufactured in the crescentlike shape illustrated.

From the foregoing discussion and the accompanying drawings, it will beunderstood that the invention provides an improved arrangement of earguard or car protector which is self-retaining on the ear without thenecessity of some other extraneous means for holding it in place on thehead of the wearer, and which is effective to protect the ear againstthe elements, and which will not affect the hearing of the wearer.

The terms and expressions which have been used are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the useof such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of any of thefeatures shown or described, or portions thereof, but it is recognizedthat various modifications are possible within the scope of theinvention claimed.

I claim:

1. An ear guard for the human ear comprising, a yieldable body portion,said body portion having a cavity therein adapted to receive the eartherein, said body portion comprising side walls transversely spaced attheir forward ends and connected at their rearward and upper and lowerends to define said cavity, said side walls being recessed rearwardlyintermediate their upper and lower ends so that substantially only thepinna portion of the human ear will be encompassed thereby, andsubstantially C-shaped, resilient spring means secured in said bodyportion generally adjacent the outer periphery of said upper, lower andrearward ends urging said upper and lower ends of said side wallsvertically inwardly toward one another, for clasping the ear and thusmaintaining the ear guard in position on the ear.

2. An ear guard for the human ear comprising, a body portion formed ofsoft molded rubber, defining a generally crescent-shaped article havingupper and lower generally pointed ends, a cavity in said body portion,said cavity being of such size as to conveniently receive the human eartherein, the crescent-shaped configuration being such that substantiallyonly the pinna portion of the ear will be encompassed by the bodyportion, generally 0- shaped resilient wire spring means embedded insaid body portion adjacent the exterior periphery thereof and urging thegenerally pointed ends of said body portion vertically inwardly towardone another, for clasping the ear and maintaining the ear guard inself-retaining position thereon, said spring means extendingsubstantially to the free extremities of said pointed ends of said bodyportion.

3. An ear guard in accordance with claim 2, wherein the free ends ofsaid wire spring means are blunted.

4. An ear guard for the human ear comprising, a body portion of softmolded rubber, said body portion having a cavity therein adapted toreceive the ear therein, said body portion comprising side wallstransversely spaced at their forward ends and connected at theirrearward and upper and lower ends to define said cavity, theintermediate portions of said side walls being of a greater width ascompared to the upper and lower portions thereof to give a generallycrescent shape to said guard, whereby said body portion encompasses onlythe pinna portion of the ear, and generally C-shaped spring meansembedded in said body portion in encompassing relation to the rearwardand the upper and lower ends of said cavity, for urging said upper andlower portions at their forward ends vertically inwardly toward oneanother for maintaining the guard in position on the ear, the terminalends of said C-shaped spring means being blunted and terminating atsubstantially the extremity of the respective pointed end of saidcrescent shaped body portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS227,364 Klienert May 11, 1880 316,029 Gillespie Apr. 21, 1885 993,620Quinn May 30, 1911 1,697,102 Barrington Jan. 1, 1929 2,281,357 JohnsonApr. 28, 1942 2,378,398 Fiedler June 19, 1945 2,570,675 Morris Oct. 9,1951 2,763,869 Bogart et al. Sept. 25, 1956 2,812,517 Bogart et al. Nov.12, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 642,593 France May 6, 1928 172,252 Germany June15, 1906

1. AN EAR GUARD FOR THE HUMAN EAR COMPRISING, A YIELDABLE BODY PORTION,SAID BODY PORTION HAVING A CAVITY THEREIN ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE EARTHEREIN, SAID BODY PORTION COMPRISING SIDE WALLS TRANSVERSELY SPACED ATTHEIR FORWARD ENDS AND CONNECTED AT THEIR REARWARD AND UPPER AND LOWERENDS TO DEFINE SAID CAVITY, SAID SIDE WALLS BEING RECESSED REARWARDLYINTERMEDIATE THEIR UPPER AND LOWER ENDS SO THAT SUBSTANTIALLY ONLY THEPINNA PORTION OF THE HUMAN EAR WILL BE ENCOMPASSED THEREBY, ANDSUBSTANTIALLY C-SHAPED, RESILIENT SPRING MEANS SECURED IN SAID BODYPORTION GENERALLY ADJACENT THE OUTER PERIPHERY OF SAID UPPER, LOWER ANDREARWARD ENDS URGING SAID UPPER AND LOWER ENDS OF SAID SIDE WALLSVERTICALLY INWARDLY TOWARD ONE ANOTHER, FOR CLASPING THE EAR AND THUSMAINTAINING THE EAR GUARD IN POSITION ON THE EAR.